random acts of life, family and photos

The Burning of Big Tex and My MOST ReTweeted Pic Ever!

Since the kids were on Fall break from school last week I decided a trip to Texas was in order. And because we had not gone to the State Fair of Texas since the year before our move to Louisiana (2008), Tim and I agreed it would be fun to go while there. Ben would barely remember his rides as a little guy on the giant ferris wheel, G would NOT remember his couple of trips there as a baby, and I was excited to get a picture of our entire family with Big Tex, since it was K’s first state fair ever.

Well, the idea of that picture literally went up into flames while we were making our way into the fair grounds.

Let me back up a bit.

If you are not from Texas, you probably don’t know who Big Tex is was. He’s is a big, 70-foot tall “cowboy” (metal framed statue, turns out) that serves as a “greeter” at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. He literally says, “Howdy Folks” while moving his big mouth, as you come into the fair grounds.

Anyway, as we were walking up we saw smoke and a few flames and at first thought it was something that was supposed to be there but as we walked further in, this was the scene:

He was completely engulfed in flames and thick black smoke filled the air. It literally only took minutes for him to burn up right before our eyes! Shortly after I took a picture similar to this with my phone (this one is from my camera), there were fire trucks pulling in and the area was blocked off so they could take his “remains” down and haul them away.

But THIS photo, was the one I posted on Instagram and Twitter.

And OH. MAH. GAH.

Then my twitter account EXPLODED.

Just a few short minutes after I tweeted this photo, WFAA news (local Dallas ABC affiliate) RE-tweeted this pic and it was re-tweeted over 550 times!! How crazy is THAT!?

Plus, the photo is on several news/newspaper/radio websites and is one of the first ones to come up when you Google “Big Tex fire pictures”! Like I said on my FB, just shows the true power of social media!!

Once the fire was under control we continued our day at the fair and ended up having a wonderful, fried-food-filled time (more pics to follow later this week). And as far as we know, Big Tex will surely be back next year, bigger and better. Thankfully this was the last weekend of the fair this year, so most of the folks who came to see him in 2012 were able to do so. Well except, for anyone who came in after 10:30 Friday morning…

Here are some pictures I have of Big Tex from previous years we attended the fair, so that you can see him in his glory…

My Mom and Dad in front of Big Tex in 2005

B.T. in 2006

And in 2008

Sorry about your unfortunate incident, Big T. but we look forward to seeing the “new you” next year!